Janten leaped into action instantly, spinning his Slim Lance to in front of him and jabbing it forward, running through a dark mage who thought to send a lethal blast of a Flux tome at the lectern. He quickly turned and bashed the forehead of another tomeslinger with the butt of the spear before bringing the point of it around ans slashing the chest of the mage. Banon seemed stunned, not moving and simply watching the fight. "Your blade, Banon!" Janten shouted. "Since when do you need orders to attack?!" Janten cursed under his breath and fought his way to his clumsy brother's side. In the process, the very thing he feared would happen, happened: he lost his helmet. He attempted to cover his face so innocents would not see who he was, but with any luck, the carnage and chaos would disguise him well enough for the time being. When at last he had made it to his brother's side, King Finnick was nowhere to be seen. [i]Where could he be?[/i] --- Bralot slipped through the battle, untouched by either side, doing his best to appear as if he were trying to escape. He wasn't, however, escaping just yet. His trajectory brought him right to the petrified Servant of the Stone. Sneering, Bralot snatched the stone and concealed it within his robe. But he had barely escaped the courtyard when he found King Finnick's Silver Sword pointed directly at his nose. "Ah, King. Good to see you're alive and well. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to get as far away from this chaos as possible," Bralot bluffed. "You take me for a blind man, [i]Bralot[/i]. I saw you take our Sacred Stone, and I know it was you who petrified our men, and that those dark people out there are under your command." "You indeed are sharper than I thought, King. However, you have made one foul mistake by confronting me alone." "Forgetting something, aren't we?" Finnick retorted, shifting the position of his sword to Bralot's neck and pressing the point against it. "Hmph. Only shows your ignorance," Bralot said, drawing upon the power of his stave again. Once again, there was a bright flash, and this time, King Finnick had been turned to stone. Taking a step backward, Bralot drew upon the power of his Nosferatu Tome, draining the life energy of the king out of the petrified statue. Then, drawing his Steel Blade, he struck the statue before him, shattering the stone into pieces. Though the first victims of his staff's magic would recover, so long as their statues were unharmed, the King would never be so lucky. Kicking the sword of now-late King Finnick down the corridor, Bralot scattered his Warp Powder about himself and used the ancient words that empowered it to transport him to the ruins he had discovered in western Darkling Woods. For a moment, he had to catch his breath. Teleporting himself over such a large distance drained his energy, but he'd have time to worry about that later. For the time, he had to conceal the stone in the most safe place he could find. He would not be able to ferry it around with himself. That would be far too dangerous, and keeping it in his quarters at the castle was even more dangerous. These ruins were his best chance. --- Banon had been escorted out of the courtyard, and now Janten fought alongside Roland. He had cut down at least two more dark mages, but a stray Shade tendril had sliced his left arm, and his right side been fairly injured by a Worm Tome. He was having difficulty properly wielding his spear, and was, at this point, simply trying to survive. Though the numbers of the dark mages had thinned, he was not wanting to take his chances, and thought to escape. Making his way to the nearest corridor, he slipped away from the chaos and knelt down, taking in slow breaths to avoid paining his injuries on his side. He noticed the remains of an obliterated statue nearby, and thought to himself, [i]Way to add insult to injury. Vandalize the castle and kill off innocents. Wait. . . .[/i] Janten had recognized something familiar about the statue's remains. Attempting to move himself over closer to them, he saw the face of his cousin, King Finnick. [i]Oh, no![/i] No statues of the recent King had been erected. The culprit who had petrified the Servant of the Stone and his guards had done the same to Finnick, but had ensured the King wouldn't return. Who knew what Cecil would do when he found out his father had been killed? Even worse, the people of Renais would be in an uproar. They would blame Janten as always, and he could easily be executed. Alone, Janten curled into a ball, gripping at his wounds, and cried.